One week, 23 writing mentors

My thinking went: If suburban kids have access to a college-educated editor (i.e., their parent) to improve their writing, my students should have the same opportunity.

And to get this support, I thought, my students shouldn’t have to join an after-school program or travel on two buses across the city. The support should just be there for them.

So I put out a request for online writing mentors who would commit to providing online writing support for one student for the entire year.

The response was overwhelming. Complete strangers signed up. A few of my friends went crazy with their recruitment efforts. Just one week later, I have 23 writing mentors, one for each student.

Here’s how it’s going to work: Every Tuesday, writing mentors will log on Google Docs, read their mentee’s essay, and leave comments — all in 15-20 minutes. Then they’ll do it again (and again) the following Tuesday (and then the following Tuesday) until the AP exam in May.

I can’t wait to see the results. Will this project improve my students’ writing? Will my students see themselves more as prospective college students? Or will the feedback overwhelm them?